Our Team

Merrick Wolman Chief Executive Officer

Merrick has headed up Bellerive Finance since inception. Merrick was head of Stenham’s Business Finance division (the predecessor of Bellerive Finance) for more than a decade. He also worked extensively with the company’s private client network.

Merrick is from South Africa and holds a B.Comm from the University of Natal and qualified as a Chartered Accountant (SA) in 1981, while serving articles at Arthur Andersen. After doing national service at the South African Revenue Service, he began his career in commerce, before immigrating to the UK in 1988.

Merrick is a member of the ICAEW and SAICA.

Claire Susskind Director And Chief Operating Officer

Claire joined Stenham in 2008 from Barclays Wealth to lead the specialised lending activity and to support the Trade Finance division. Claire is now responsible for management and financial accounting for Bellerive and also reviews the financial and operational controls.

Originally from South Africa, Claire graduated from the University of Cape Town in 1995 with a B.Comm and qualified as a Chartered Accountant (SA) in Cape Town

Andrew Evans Private Equity

Andrew joined Bellerive Finance in 2015. He looks after the Private Equity business, Bellerive Capital Limited, as well as assisting with group accounts/reporting.

He was trained at Deloitte and spent time in both Johannesburg and Miami offices. He also worked at Standard Bank and Civitas Partners in their finance departments.

Andrew graduated with a BCom from the University of Cape Town (UCT) and a postgraduate degree in accounting from the University of South Africa (UNISA) He is a qualified Chartered Accountant – CA (SA) and also holds a Certificate in Import/Export Management from UCT.

Jared Wolman Lending

Jared joined Bellerive in May 2015 to help run the trade finance and specialised lending activities of the company.

Prior to joining Bellerive, Jared completed his articles at PwC in London, where he spent some time in Private Client Tax before moving to their Restructuring division.

Jared graduated from the University of Leeds with a BA (Hons) in History in 2009. He continued his studies in history by completing a Masters (MSc) at the London School of Economics in 2010.

Chrisna Woensdregt Business Manager

Chrisna joined Bellerive Finance, formerly Stenham Financial Services in May 2006 as a Trade Finance Assistant. She is responsible for overseeing the trade finance activities and provides support to other divisions.

Before joining Bellerive Chrisna spent part of her career in the leisure industry in the United States. With more than 10 years of trade finance experience, Chrisna is well versed at driving business quality and efficiency while ensuring client satisfaction and trust.

Chrisna has completed a B.Comm degree in Financial Accounting at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa.

Gemma Halford Trade Finance Administrator

Gemma started working for Bellerive Finance in March 2016 supporting the Trade Finance team as an Administrator.

She began her career at a large UK leisure and holiday company before moving on to work for an international exhibition organiser based in London. With 13 years of experience, she has worked in a variety of roles in accounts.

Gemma is a fully qualified bookkeeper, completing her AAT in March 2012.

Tapsri Sangma Trade Finance Executive

Tapsri joined Bellerive Finance in January 2015 to administer the Trade Finance division.

Tapsri started her career as an Internal Auditor/Financial Risk Advisor in KPMG in 2006. She moved to the Banking & Finance industry in 2008 and worked for Santander & Avarto Financial Solutions before joining Bellerive Finance.

She has a BSc Degree in Physics and later obtained an MBA in Finance from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), India. She is a part qualified management accountant with an Advanced Diploma in Management Accounting from CIMA.